It is with great sadness that Safeline heard of the murder of Rhonda Gray by her husband, Troy Gray. Domestic violence is all too common throughout the nation, the state, and certainly, our own local community.

Domestic violence starts very slowly with a pattern of control, including many non-violent strategies including verbal abuse, emotional abuse, isolation, economic abuse, threats and intimidation. Over a period of time, the strategies may begin to include physical violence and that often continues to escalate.

Safeline would like to remind the residents of Orange and northern Windsor counties that our 24-hour toll-free number, (800) NEWSAFE, 800-639-7233 is available to victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Callers may be anonymous.

Our services are free and confidential and include legal, economic and medical advocacy, safety planning, emotional support, outreach, education and many other services.

We encourage calls to our toll-free number in the effort to help prevent further incidents of this type of tragedy.